DA: Sharing DNA data helps solve crimes

Law enforcement authorities announced a new project Wednesday that speeds up the ability to link repeat offenders to various crimes through DNA evidence.

Integrating DNA databases with the District Attorney’s Office’s computerized case management system has allowed prosecutors to match defendants immediately to other crimes they may have committed, such as robbery, burglary or homicide.

“Our goal was simple: Find a way to connect the DNA dots faster than ever before, our own CSI,” said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, referring to the popular TV show.

She was joined at a morning news conference at the downtown Hall of Justice by other partners in the project: county Sheriff Bill Gore and San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman. Dumanis said the project was a collaborative effort among the three agencies that began more than a year ago.

By streamlining the process of matching DNA profiles from current defendants to evidence found at other crimes scenes, the project helps prosecutors hold repeat offenders responsible for more of the crimes they commit.

The result can be increased prison sentences.

“Defendants may think they leave no trace behind at a crime scene, but their DNA is often left behind on cigarette butts, soda cans, or through blood or bodily fluids,” Dumanis said. “Using updated technology and programing by our IT staffs, we have sped up the process of connecting the nearly 700 DNA hits we get from the state every year to offenders, and prosecuting them.”

It’s the volume of samples that required a streamlined process. Gore explained that in 2004, when a state law was passed to allow sheriff’s deputies to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for a felony, there were about 250,000 specimens in the state database. Today, the database contains about 2.2 million known DNA specimens.

He said the Sheriff’s Department alone gets about 400 DNA hits per year when unknown samples are run against the state database. He said those numbers are duplicated in the San Diego Police Department.

“As we all know, criminals, they’re not held by boundaries or jurisdictions,” Zimmerman said. “One criminal can be responsible for multiple crimes in numerous cities.”

Since the project began, the District Attorney’s Office staff has worked on nearly 5,000 DNA database hits. Authorities said that figure was reduced to fewer than 900 through the collaboration of the three agencies.